Gerald Leissner, ApexHi's chief executive, said yesterday the building fitted the company's profile, in that it had stable A-grade retail tenants with long-term leases.

Leissner added that the building was fully let and was expected to yield a 16 percent return.

The major tenant in the building, which has a gross lettable area of 20 000m2, is the Gauteng education department. Woolworths and Juta are its major retail tenants.

The acquisition boosts the number of buildings acquired by ApexHi in the past year to 36 and its portfolio to 209 properties.

Leissner said ApexHi's strategy in considering properties for acquisition involved assessing factors such as vacancy rates, the quality of the tenants and the quality of the buildings, rather than the location.  

"For this reason, ApexHi's portfolio comprises mainly high-yielding properties in the Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban city centres.

"More than 70 percent of the property space is let to A-grade tenants such as government divisions, parastatals and major listed companies."

Leissner added that the Johannesburg city centre was a central transport hub for the greater metropolitan A area and was home to regional and local government, law courts and several public corporations.

"A number of initiatives are breathing new life into the area, and ApexHi is well placed to benefit from renewed tenant interest. ApexHi owns 43 buildings in the Johannesburg city centre and Braamfontein."